Insight into Mizzou men’s program

every team in college is gonna have guys quit the team. that happens at the best teams, mediocre, and bad ones.

they are an average d1 running school.

If you're just trying to walk on and enjoy running, then what happens to the top guys shouldn't be of concern to you. In that case, you should mainly be concerned about what the culture is like and how the guys are. The only way you find out about that is by visiting the school and meeting some of them.

But if you are concerned about developing as a runner, I would look elsewhere. Two or three years ago, Mizzou lost to D3 Wash U at a midseason invitational in Chicago. Even in Missouri there are other schools that develop talent much better.

I probably don’t have the talent to ever be all American or anything like that, just looking to be a part of a competitive team if possible. I’m probably going to apply to wash u as well, but am more attracted to the bigger schools and Mizzou is much cheaper as well. I’ll get in contact with the coach soon if this season goes as well as I hope

Unless you speak a foreign language, don t even bother. Mizzou is a hired gun program, much like the rest of the SEC, and if you are just going to be apart of the team and do nothing, have a bit more respect for yourself and find a program that allows you to be the best runner you want to be.

tigers wrote:

I probably don’t have the talent to ever be all American or anything like that, just looking to be a part of a competitive team if possible. I’m probably going to apply to wash u as well, but am more attracted to the bigger schools and Mizzou is much cheaper as well. I’ll get in contact with the coach soon if this season goes as well as I hope

If you're smart enough to get into Wash U then I wouldn't waste your time with Mizzou and go elsewhere. You'd probably have a better experience in a good D3 program like WashU that definitely has more academic opportunity as well. Obviously tuition is much higher, but my understanding is their financial aid is pretty good.

This same question comes up every year and every year is the same answer: NO! Mizzou does not develop talent on the men’s side - they destroy it.. After decades of ruining Missouri high school talent they have sold out and now exclusively use foreign runners to fill their roster. With recent budget cuts I doubt they will allow many walk-on runners and you will never travel as one. The coach has ignored the last two Columbia studs - 4:13 runner and state XC champ - who smartly opted for KU and KState.

They take lots of in-state runners. That's not the problem. When someone gets there, they quickly realize they are not all that good. They get beat by imports who suck at the conference level.

How many MO high schoolers have made it to the FL Nationals over the past 2 decades? On the boys' side?

This next video is not about running but if there is little reason to go there for running, then there seems to be little reason to go there for anything else. Mizzou is cheap for a reason ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsF6D0t5N1o

is it because of the coaching style of Marc Burns? why was the group so small for indoor this year?

I just looked through the indoor results and they aren’t that bad. They seem like they’re running mostly 800 and miles and a lot of the guys are around 4:10 for the mile which isn’t groundbreaking of course but nothing to scoff at.

I will say I do think it is a little disingenuous to say their recruiting is poor in missouri. I have older brothers who’ve ran so I’ve been around the MO high school scene for a while and it seems like Missouri has 1-3 national class guys a year and the rest are pretty average from a national perspective.

I know nothing of Marc Burns coaching style so I can’t comment on that though.

Don't confuse recruiting with talent development. Mizzou has done NOTHING with Missouri High School boys talent. Case in point Austin Hindman (4:04, 8:43, 1st Jr. Tri) - did nothing in the one year he was at Mizzou before leaving for the triathlon.

I agree Mizzou has put together a nice little distance group the past few years but EVERY one of them is a foreign recruit:

UK - Wood, George

NZ - Sinclair, Small

Bulgaria - Prodanov

Beer - Australia

Schmidt - Germany

I have no problem with having a diverse, international team. Just don't give Burns any credit for "developing" talent. If that were true, then the Missouri-natives on the team would also be seeing similar success instead of pacing time trials for Burns' 16 year-old son.

As for the women - Karissa Schweizer was an outlier. Burns hasn't shown the same "magic" with her younger sister. The women have been awful since KS graduated. Their only standout right now is a foreign recruit.

I have no problem with having a diverse, international team. Just don't give Burns any credit for "developing" talent.

Then don't give Arkansas credit for their team when 6 of their top 7 who won the cross title all transferred in...

Good point. At least Arkansas has a history of developing some extraordinary American runners over the past 4 decades in addition to foreign and transfer athletes. A great example was their simultaneous development of Alistair Cragg (S. Africa, SMU transfer) and Daniel Lincoln (US) who went from unknowns to multiple NCAA titles. GO HOGS!

So there’s your bias. Obviously you’re going to try discredit Mizzou. Also, don’t forget Derrick Peterson if we’re talking that time

does anyone know of his coaching style?

His coaching style is nonexistent. He couldn't care less about any of his athletes, even the ones who are seeing success. He is more interested in seeing how much he can skate by without ever actually having to do his job.

Burns is out. He resigned.

Resigning mid year? That can't be good... I look forward to that scandal breaking!

How is OP's college decision going?

This is NOT a LINK wrote:

Burns is out. He resigned.

Believe it when I see it... and can they actually hire someone who can recruit/ develop more than just internationals distance wise.